Lithium Deal: Dear Mr Fui Tsikata and Uncle Kofi Ansah

I questioned the motive for your eloquent write-up yesterday because it didn’t capture the entire truth. Rather, it abused the truth and contributed to the unexamined view from some quarters that, all is well with our Lithium deal; the foreign companies are probably even going to run into losses and Ghana would make more profit than the foreigners; and so we can all go to sleep.

Your calculation of what we are likely to get is quite inaccurate. The foreigners aren’t going to be mining only lithium. There is aluminium, there is silica, and there are other by-products that have serious profit and market value. Ignoring these in your calculations and quoting a lower amount to be realized is problematic.

You added that the corporate tax is to be paid by the foreign company to the stake of Ghana and the resources or gains likely to be made by the country. Given the respect I have for you, I want to be very decorous in my response to this. Sirs, I questioned the motive for your write-up because, you are already aware that in its own documents, the foreign company insisted that it has been granted a 10-year tax holiday under the Free Zones program, plus special concessions that will make it pay 30% to 50% the usual cost of electricity (lithium processing consumes an awful lot of electricity). So how do we expect more income when we have given them ten years to operate without paying taxes? How can we benefit more when they will only pay about 30% of the cost of electricity they use?

The advantages between service contract joint ventures and your preferred colonial concessionary arrangements have long been settled in the literature and through other scholarly research. It is a settled debate that countries that are serious in their quest to extricate themselves from the quagmires of poverty and underdevelopment, would go for either a service contract or joint venture agreement in any natural resource deal.

I spent the whole night reading to offer a detailed response to your nice write-up, which in my view, rather abuse the truth in our Lithium discourse and I found these links to papers authored by Bright Simons, which incidentally serves as a great response to yours.

I have shared the links above, let me say again that, these foreigners can succeed in using whatever means to buy their way in getting the green light to mine lithium. But certainly, we would mobilize the community to ensure that this doesn’t happen. The mobilisation has already commenced. Do not forget that, I have a personal interest in this fight because, I am a Ghanaian who is appalled by how we have pandered to Ali Mazrui’s paradox which states that, Africa is the richest continent in terms of natural resources, yet the poorest continent in terms of everything. Secondly do not forget that, I come from Mfantseman and I am from Prabiw, Saltpond, and I take a lot of inspiration from P. A. V. Ansah (the brother of Mr Kofi Ansah).